View full sizeTransportation Security Administration employees in plain clothes help demonstrate the two new imaging machines at the security checkpoint at Huntsville International Airport this morning. The machines are replacing the metal detectors that have been used for decades. (The Huntsville Times/Keith Clines)

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - Passengers heading for their flight from Huntsville International Airport can expect to see a "gingerbread man" before they head to their gate.

The federal Transportation Security Administration has installed two advanced imaging security screening machines for passengers to pass through at the security checkpoint that display a generic outline of a person on a monitor attached to the machine.

Some call the generic outline a gingerbread man. Officials call it an improved screening process that is quicker and easier than the metal detectors used for decades.

"We all want convenient, fast service and we think this will provide for that," airport spokeswoman Barbie Peek said after a TSA demonstration of the machines this morning.

TSA spokesman Jon Allen told reporters that the machines were installed last week and TSA officers have been going through training on the new machines.

All passengers at the airport should be prepared to go through the new imaging machines, he said.

The passenger and the TSA security officer can see the monitor to see if the machine detected any objects, Allen said. Previously, the image was viewed only by another TSA agent in a separate room, he said.

If the machine detects an object on a passenger, a yellow rectangle will appear on the generic image on the monitor in the body area where the object was detected. The passenger could then produce the object and the TSA agent would pat down the passenger in the area where the object was detected.

The advanced imaging machine can detect any object on a passenger as opposed to the standard metal detector that could not detect non-metal objects. Allen said that makes it important for passengers to empty their pockets of everything, including wallets and handkerchiefs, and place them in a bag to go through the X-ray machine on a conveyor belt.

"Passengers can get through quicker if they divest," Allen said.

A passenger can opt not to go through the imaging machines, he said. A passenger choosing not to go through the machine will go through a full body pat down by a TSA agent, in private if the passenger chooses, before being allowed to proceed, Allen said.

The machines, which cost about $150,000 each, have been installed in 165 of the nation's 450 airports where the TSA operates, Allen said. Huntsville is the second airport in the state to get the machines. Montgomery's airport began using them last month.